DO YOU REMEMBER?

Yesterday, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Today, however, marks the 25th anniversary of a much more sinister day, one where a true American icon was altered beyond all recognition. That’s right, it was on April 23, 1985, that Coca-Cola announced the arrival of New Coke. Here’s Bill Cosby announcing the news to the world
Why, you may ask, would the company tamper with one of the most recognized and beloved products in the world? The simple answer is…paranoia. Pepsi was gaining a bigger share of the market and the execs at Coca-Cola got nervous. Thinking that the public would prefer a sweeter soft drink, they replaced good ol’ sucrose with high fructose corn syrup. While some certainly welcomed the change, many diehard Coke fans were livid, especially Southerners, who took great pride in their homegrown soft drink. Negative responses came from everyone from the Chicago Tribune to Fidel Castro, who called the new drink “a sign of American capitalist decadence.”Within three months, the company was realizing it had made a serious error in judgment, and on July 10, 1985, they announced the return of the original formula, which would be now know as “Coca-Cola Classic.” The only problem was, it really wasn’t the original formula, as the high fructose corn syrup remained in place of sugar, but was dialed back a notch to reduce the sweetness and make the product closer to how people remembered it. Today, if you want a better idea of what Coca-Cola originally tasted like, you should hunt down one of those glass bottles that come from Mexico. They still use sucrose and one sip will bring you back to the glory days of Coca-Cola.